Maybe that’s what’s happening in this city of 50,000, located about two hours and 20 minutes southwest of Ottawa down Highway 401, where the Belleville Senators have been welcomed with open arms in their inaugural season in the American Hockey League.

It wasn’t long ago that the rundown Yardmen Arena sat empty and quiet most nights.

The city woke up one day in April 2015 to news that the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls had been sold by owner Gord Simmons to Hamilton businessman Michael Andlauer for $9.5 million and were being relocated to the Steel City.

Now, on a recent Wednesday night, as the Belleville Senators prepared to face the Syracuse Crunch in the rebuilt 4,400-seat building, fans were streaming through the doors to take part in what had become a rebirth.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. We’re lucky and we’re blessed because things have worked out really well,” Belleville Mayor Taso Christopher said. “We’ve got a great relationship, a good partnership and communication. At the end of the day, it’s great economic development and a nice feather in our cap for this community.”

•

High-level high hockey never should have left Belleville in the first place. The Bulls weren’t doing well, or drawing big crowds, when they packed up and left the city, but hockey has a heartbeat here and the patient didn’t appreciate it when the Bulls departed without warning.

People who grew up here and loved this city took it pretty hard.

“The unfortunate part was the way it rolled out,” said Christopher, who tried to push council to sign a long-term lease with the Bulls’ ownership group at the time. “I get elected and (the team is) gone in 60 days on a Sunday night. It was right out of the movies.

“And, I’m (saying) ‘OK, they elected to go west and that’s their right.’

“Well, if you fast forward to the conversation we’re having right now, who actually won on that deal?”

•

Ottawa Senators associate coach Marc Crawford, who is from Belleville hockey’s first family, had a sour taste in his mouth when the Bulls left town. He had been part of a large group of investors that tried to purchase the OHL franchise before it was sold to Andlauer.

“We definitely had a group that was ready to buy it,” Crawford said. “They just got a really good price for it, and that’s all they should have said was, ‘Hey we got a really good price for it and we’re selling the team,’ instead of saying, ‘There’s no hockey hope here.’

“I know a lot of the insides of what was going on in my hometown,” he said. “I knew there was tons of support for hockey. I also knew, if you promoted it, that you’d be able to do something well.”

The Ottawa Senators had to be convinced that going to Belleville was the right move, though.

After spending 15 years with their AHL affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., the Sens weren’t looking for a new home when Belleville officials reached out to Ottawa assistant general manager Randy Lee to see if the NHL club had any interest.

Not only were the Senators comfortable with the arrangement in Binghamton, there wasn’t an appetite for owning their AHL team, too.

Determined to make things work, Christopher and his staff essentially offered the Senators a deal they couldn’t refuse to get Ottawa to move its affiliation to Belleville.

The city had already decided it would spend money to upgrade the Yardmen, but it didn’t want to do so without lining up a major tenant. Bulls owners had wanted a new arena, which meant spending $50 million to $60 million, and the city wasn’t willing to do that.

When the Senators were deemed to have serious interest in the Yardmen, the city agreed to spend $20 million upgrading the building, including new seating and a North American-sized ice surface. Previously it had been Olympic-sized.

Today, the team essentially has a new arena. It’s just in the same place.

“We’re blessed,” Christopher said. “We took a job that would have taken 12 to 14 months and we did it in nine. We’ve got amenities that are world class. We’re even looking at putting in some additional seating to take it to 5,100.”

•

It ultimately made sense for the Senators to sign their eight-year lease. The team’s prospects are now less than 2 1/2 hours away by car and no longer need to cross the Canada-U.S. border to get to Ottawa.

The Montreal Canadiens have moved their AHL affiliate to nearby Laval, Que.; the Toronto Marlies are in the same city as the Maple Leafs; and the Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate) are also close.

Lee wanted to make sure Binghamton was protected and was successful in getting that city an AHL affiliation agreement with the New Jersey Devils.

“We thought it was a good opportunity and we knew were leaving a great opportunity in Binghamton,” Lee said. “We knew this had special characteristics with the proximity, being in a Canadian market, and we knew it was going to resonate more with our fan base and their fan base.

“To be honest, it’s exceeded our expectations. The fans have embraced it and you have to give credit to the people there for managing it under difficult circumstances.”

The Senators have averaged 3,600 spectators a game. That’s strong by AHL standards, and the club has 2,400 season-ticket holders. The population of the city of Belleville is only 50,000, but the Quinte Region has 200,000 residents and the club is trying to draw from the entire area.

“The market has responded great, and that’s been one of the easy parts,” said Rob Mullowney, the AHL club’s chief operating officer. “Hockey matters here.

“We’re new, and now we’ve got to sustain the success. As long as we keep drawing fans from within a 45-minute radius on either side (of the city) we’re in good shape. If that changes, and we have to rely on a community the size of Belleville with 50,000 people, that would be a challenge. They’ve been very supportive, but it’s 50,000 people.

“Based on what we’ve seen right now, we think the path ahead is pretty good.”

•

A banner in Yardmen Arena’s north end signalled the return of elite hockey to Belleville. Luke Hendry/PostmediaLuke Hendry /
Luke Hendry/The Intelligencer

Crawford, who is the point-person on the NHL Senators coaching staff in staying in touch with Belleville head coach Kurt Kleinendorst, can’t say enough good things about the work Mullowney, who came from the AHL’s St. John’s Ice Caps, has done with his staff.

“The organization has done a great job of promoting the team. The previous regimes that owned the Bulls would just open the doors and say, ‘Here’s the team,’ and they got great support, they really did,” Crawford said. “Now they’ve made it an event.

“They really do a terrific job and they’ve done a great job with the building. It’s just a fun atmosphere. The one thing I love about going to Belleville is you see real Canadiana there. You see a father coming in with his two kids. You see families coming in, and that’s not always the case at the NHL.

“You see real Canadiana there. You see a father coming in with his two kids. You see families coming in, and that’s not always the case at the NHL.”

“It happens, but (in Belleville) you see it all the time. It’s a real family event. The price point is good, the entertainment value is good and it’s been really well received.”

Lee loves the fact the plan has come together.

“We wanted to make sure the fans were going to support it because Binghamton was a very strong market and we wanted to make sure the facilities were an upgrade,” Lee said.

“We used to sneak into Belleville, and, when I saw the passion of Taso Christopher and (director of community events) Mark Fluhrer, they were so committed, they grabbed me and I felt ‘These guys are in as far as you can be to make it success.’

“We knew the fan base was starving for hockey and we knew it made so much sense for us.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.